Tea at Trianon: Venezuela & RICO

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Monday, January 5, 2026

Venezuela & RICO

From Tierney's Real News:

I could write a book about Team Trump’s operation to arrest Maduro in Venezuela but I distilled the most important points down to a 10 minute read. By now, you’ve all read about how the operation happened - I’m going to discuss why it happened and cover viewpoints that the fake news isn’t talking about.
President Trump’s sanctioning of Venezuelan oil, destroying drug boats and seizing or blockading the tanker ghost fleet was having stupendous repercussions in not only Venezuela, but their allies in Cuba, Iran, Russia and Communist China:
1. Severe weakening of the Maduro cartel regime.
2. Severe weakening of the Cuban Communist regime.
3. Choking off the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, which took Venezuelan oil to sell for cash.
4. Leaving the Chinese Communist Party without reliable oil from Venezuela and Iran.
Trump’s embargo in Venezuela was also likely the final straw to neuter the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and start the Iranian revolution and economic collapse that’s going on right now in Iran. It’s ALL connected. (Read more.)